Illustration by Nick Ybarra
With fall sports postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, San Jose State football players looking to get drafted by an NFL team face a lot of uncertainty.
SJSU Athletics released a statement on Aug. 10 announcing that the Mountain West Conference is indefinitely postponing all scheduled fall sports contests and its championship events.
This postponement of the season poses issues for senior football players with dreams of playing in the NFL.
“I really had a lot of questions myself and I dont have the answers to what’s going to happen in the spring,” graduate student and offensive tackle Jack Snyder said over Zoom.
One issue NFL prospects said they are facing is not having highlight reels from their senior season for scouts to evaluate.
“Most guys need to play their senior year so that they can put themselves in a position to get drafted because it’s so hard to get drafted,” said SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan over the phone.
Players who don’t have household names in collegiate football will be affected the most by not playing their senior season because it could mean the difference between an eight-figure contract and not being drafted at all.
Brennan said the lack of player film in the fall will leave student-athletes unprepared when NFL scouts want to see how they perform on the field.
“[The NFL] would watch players’ film this year to see how they stack up, how they’ve improved,” Brennan said. “[And now] the spring season will be used as an evaluation tool and if for some reason we don’t play in the spring, then obviously [players] will be evaluated off their junior year.”
Nick Starkel, transfer quarterback from the University of Arkansas, said he wants to play another college football season, whether it’s this semester or next.
“I’m going to play whenever they tell us we can play,” Starkel said. “The biggest thing is getting a year of good film and winning as many games as possible to get recognized. That may happen in the spring or it may happen a year from now.”
Postponing the Fall 2020 season also caused scheduling conflicts for the spring collegiate football season and the NFL draft.
The NFL Combine, a week-long showcase for college athletes to display their athleticism before the draft in April, is crucial for players to make an impression on team scouts.
“The combine is essentially like a huge interview and when I found out we were planning on playing in the spring I thought, ‘That’s just a little less time to prepare for an interview,’ ” Starkel said.
Under the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell can set a draft date for any time between Feb. 14 and June 2. Although the next NFL draft is currently scheduled for April 29, 2021, it may have to be rescheduled to accommodate the Spring 2021 college football season.
The Mountain West Conference announced that it will release more information on Mountain West sports today.